News Roundup
‘(Reuters) – Italy’s booming solar power market is expected to grow nearly four times to 30 gigawatts of capacity by 2020 as part of incentive-driven efforts to fight climate change, the head of Italy’s top utility said.’
via Italy solar capacity to hit 30 GW in 2020: Enel CEO | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – Three senators reached a deal on Thursday to repeal the $6 billion per year ethanol tax credit by the end of July, an agreement that must still be passed by Congress.’
via Senate deal would axe $6 billion ethanol tax credit | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – The Energy Department on Thursday provided a $105 million conditional loan guarantee to help finance the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the country.’
via U.S. offers help to finance first advanced ethanol plant | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – Governments must work toward a major shift toward small-scale farming if endemic food crises are to be overcome and production boosted to support the global population, the United Nations said on Tuesday.’
via Small farms key to global food security, U.N. says | Reuters.
‘An unsettled climate is expected to bring change to the mountains, forests and rivers of the ecosystem. As temperatures warm, fish will move upstream to stay in water that is cold enough for them. The snow line is moving up-slope, and wolverines need to follow, for they need deep snow to raise their young. And important grizzly bear foods such as huckleberries are expected to migrate or disappear, which would mean that bears will need to move as well.’
via Additional Wilderness Urged to Protect Species as Climate Changes – NYTimes.com.
‘Scientists consider Sacramento — which sits at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers and near the delta — the most flood-prone city in the nation. Experts warn that there are two events that could destroy the levees and set off a megaflood. One is an earthquake; the second is a violent Pacific superstorm, like the one called the Pineapple Express, which sweeps water off the ocean around Hawaii and dumps it on the mainland with firehose intensity while battering the coast with high wind and waves. A megaflood would not arrive as gradual seepage; it would be a rapid submerging of hundreds of square miles.’
via Sacramento Levees Pose Risk to California and the Country – NYTimes.com.
‘An Exxon Mobil pipeline that ruptured late Friday along the Yellowstone River in south-central Montana, spilling crude oil into the river and forcing evacuations, had been shut down for one day in May because of concerns over the rising waters on the Yellowstone, the company said Sunday.’
via Ruptured Montana Pipeline Was Shut Down Before – NYTimes.com.
‘(Reuters) – The Department of Energy awarded First Solar conditional loan guarantees worth $4.5 billion for three of its biggest power plants in California, lifting the company’s shares 7 percent.’
‘(Reuters) – Developers of solar thermal power plants are scrapping plans to use steam technology in favor of ever-cheaper solar panels that are easier to finance and could help assuage concerns about the systems’ environmental impact.’
via Solar developers scrapping thermal for photovoltaic | Reuters.
‘(Reuters) – San Francisco is the greenest city in North America, followed by Vancouver and New York, according to the latest survey of green-city rankings.’
via Survey ranks San Francisco greenest U.S. city | Reuters.